Thursday, December 22, 2016

In Aarhus, Dokk1 merges old and new concepts of how a public place for learning should function.

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

It’s hard not feel as if you’ve just visited the library of the future after spending a day at Dokk1.In a formerly industrial part of Aarhus, egg chairs are now sprinkled around the periphery of the massive new “hybrid library.” There, a three-ton tubular bell called The Gong echoes through every
time a child is born at the local hospital. Outside, a ferry to
Copenhagen comes and goes from the harbor while kids and adults play
across a field with teeter-totters, a tire swing, and a huge slide in
the shape of an eagle.

Opened in 2015, Dokk1 is more than Scandinavia’s
largest library—it’s a community hub that meets the changing needs of
Denmark’s second largest city. Last summer, Dokk1 was named the Public
Library of the Year by the International Federation of Library
Associations and Institutions (IFLA). As the notion that libraries
simply serve as a home for books dissolves, Dokk1 merges old and new
concepts of what a library should be.Read more...